The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1887-01-06

you had Justly earned, full payment fl
four years. sacrifce-what does he fin
when he reaches the home he left for
years before He finds his house in ruins
his farm devastated, his slaves freed, hi
stock killed, his barns empty, his trad
i destroyed, his money worthless, his soci;
i system, feudal in it's magnifcence. swel
away, his people without law or legs
status, his comrades slain, and the bun
dens of others heavy on his shoulders
Crushed by defeat, his very tradition
gone. Without money, credit, employ
ment, material for training and. besid
all this, confronted with ths gravest pre-
| blem that ever met human intelligence
the establishing of status for the vac
body of his liberated slaves.
! What does he do-this hero in gra,
| with heart of gold? Does he sit dow
in silence and despair ? Not for day
! Surely God, who had scourged him in hi
prosperity, inspired him In his adversely
| AS ruin was never before overwhelming
never was restitution swifter. The sol
der stepped from the trenches into thu
| furrOw horses that had charged. Fed
eral guns marched before the plough
and fields thai ran red with human bloot
4 in April were green with the harvest il
June women reared In luxury, cut VI
their dresses and made breeches for thei
husbands, and with patience and hero
ism that fits woman always as a garment
gave their hands to work. There was lit
| tie bitterness in all this. Cheerfulnes
and frankness prevailed. "Bill Arp
struck the keynote when he said "Well
l killed as many .of them as they did o.
me and now | am going to work"-or tht
soldier, returning home after defeat an(
roasting some corn on the roadside. who
made the remark to his comrades: "Y OF
may leave the South, if you want to, but
am going to Sanderville, kiss my wife
and raise crop, and if the Yankees foo
with me any more, I'll whip 'em again. ,
1 want to say to Gen. Sherman-who is
considered an able man in our parts,
though some think he Is kind of careless
man about fire-that from the ashes left
US in 1864 we haye raised brave and beau
tiful city that somehow or other we have
caught the sunshine in the bricks and
mortar of our homes and have builded
thereon not one single ignoble prejudice
or memory.
THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN ACCOMPLISHED
But what is the sum of our work We
have found out that in the 6 eneral sum-
ming up the free negro counts more than
he did as slave We have planted the
school house on the hill top and made 1t
free to white and black. We have sowed
towns and cities in the place of theories,
and put business above politics. We haye
challenged your spinners in Massachusetts
and your iron makers in Pennsylvania. :
We have learned that the $400,0O0,000 an
nually received from our cotton crop will
make US rich when the supplies that made
it are home raised. We have reduced the
commercial rate of interest from "a to 6
per cent. and are floating 4 per cent.
bonds. We have learned that one North
ern immigrant is worth fifty foreigners
and have smoothed the path to the south
warl, wiped out the place where Mason &
Dixon's line used to be, and hung CUR
latch string out to you and yours. We
have reached the point that marks perfect
harmony in every household, when the
husband confesses that the pies which his
own wife cooks are as good as those his
mother used to bake and we admit that
the sun shines as brightly, and the moon
as softly, as it did 'before the war;" We
have established thrift in city and coun-
try We have fallen in love with work.
We have restored comfort to homes from
which culture and elegance never depart
ed. We have let economy take root and
spread among us as rank as the crab-gra
which sprung from Sherman's cavalr,
camp, until we are ready to lay odds on
the Georgia Y ankee as he squeezes pure
olive oil out of his cotton seed, against
any down-easter that ever snapped wood
OIL uubulCSO III OhtiostS $40 AZ tis
valleys of Vermont. Above all. we know
that we have achieved in these piping
times of peace'' fuller independence for
the South than that which our fathers
sought to win in the forum by their elo
quence or compel on the field by their
sword.
1t is rare privilege. sir. to have had
part, however humble, in this work. New
er was nobler duty confided TO human
hands than the up lifting and up-building
of the PROSTATE and bleeding South, mis-
guided, perhaps, but beautiful in her suf-
fering and honest. brave and generous al
ways. In the record of her social, indus
trial and political restoration we await
with confidence the verdict of the world.
But what of the negro? Have we solved
the problem he presents or progressed in
honor and equity towards It's solution !?
Let the record speak to this point. No
section shows more prosperous laboring
population than the negroes OF the South.
none in fuller sympathy with the employ
ing and land owning class. He shares our
school fund, has the fullest protection of
our laws and the friendship our people.
Self-interest as well as honor demand that
he should have this. Our future, our very
existence depend upon our working out
this problem in full and exact justice. We
understand that when Lincoln signed the
emancipation proclamation, your victory
was assured, for he then committed you to
the cause of human liberty against which
the arms of man cannot prevail-lap-
plause] while those of our statesmen who
made slavery the cornerstone of TIE Con-
federacy doomed US to defeat, committing
us to cause that reason could not defend
or the sword maintain in the light OF ad-
vancing civilization. (Renewed applause.
Had Mr.. Toombs said, which he did not
say, he would call the roll of his slaves at
the foot of Bunker Hill, he would have
been foolish, for he might have known
that whenever slavery became entangled il
war it must perish and that the chattel il
human flesh ended forever in New Eng
land when your fathers-not to be blamed
for parting with what didn't pay-sol(
tleir slaves to our fathers-not tt
be praised for know a paying thing
when they saw it. (Laughter.) The re